STATESVILLE — Ladies and gentlemen, Scott Young is back to normal.
All you had to do was stand with him in the pressbox during West Rowan’s 21-0 victory at West Iredell Friday night that wrapped up the outright North Piedmont Conference championship.
West’s eighth straight title.
There’s one thing about sitting in the pressbox watching, instead of being on the field.
“They won’t want me up here anymore,” he laughed. “I can see everything.”
And he let his designated head coaches Joe Nixon and David Hunt know.
He told them when the defensive line didn’t play well.
“Tell Hunt I’ve watched a half of football and I haven’t seen the D-line do anything.”
He told them them when it did.
“Tell Trey Shepherd that was so smart.”
When he realized the passing game might not work in the steady rain, he had to turn to all-world running back Dinkin Miller.
“Dinkin will have to get his rest tomorrow,” Young decided over the headphones.
Once, he told acting offensive coach Nixon, “We’re doing good, man. Take it easy.”
And so it went.
Young sat beside Craig and Justin, the entertaining voices of Statesville’s WSIC Radio, who interviewed him before the game. He even helped them out with referee calls and who made tackles. He may have an analyst’s role in his future.
“I could do that,” Young chirped.
During the game, WBTV’s Cam-Man Ron Lee stood beside of him with a TV camera in his face. Then another camera. Then a photographer.
“It’s awesome, man,” a humbled Young said. “It shows everybody cares.”
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Young had suffered a heart attack in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. It took all of two days before he was back on the field, showing up at the jayvee game on Thursday. But just for a couple of moments. The good thing about that, Young said, it gave him the chance to go home and watch former Falcon All-American K.P. Parks rumble for 85 yards in Virginia’s win at Miami.
But those few moments were cherished by the Falcon Nation.
“I got to see him last night,” receiver Jarvis Morgan said. “The crowd got electric.”
Young was up top Friday night, not because of his his heart, but because of the stents inserted.
“Physically, I can’t get hit,” Young said. “That’s why I can’t be on the sidelines.”
The crowded pressbox was happy to have him. WSIC’s Craig went over and held little son Brody at halftime. When people weren’t oogling over Brody and daughter Ally, they got an up close and personal view of how to coach a game. When he got a little too boisterous — always after a bad play, of course, — wife Diane patted him on the shoulder to calm him down.
“This isn’t stress,” Young said. “This is fun. I’m so glad I’m here.”
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Young wasn’t happy being up only 6-0 at halftime, but as soon as the third quarter began, so did the defensive line pressure. Greg Dixon sacked West Iredell QB Sayer Robinson. Then Shepherd.
“There’s my defensive line,” cooed Young. “Welcome to the game.”
Up 13-0, West Iredell faced fourth-and-four.
“This is huge,” Young said. “Huge.
Of course, West stopped the Warriors.
“Every play, we played with a lot of intensity so we could make him happy,” said linebacker Logan Stoodley.
“Awesome job by Hobie Proctor,” Young shouted after squib kick.
Young’s enthusiasm was there Tuesday when he was in a hospital bed and it was still there on Friday. But Morgan expected that.
“Young told us not to worry about him,” Morgan said. “He said just go out there and finish the deal.”
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In the end, it was 21-0 and Young sauntered down to the field, praising West Iredell as a very good team.
Then, he met with his players as hundreds of fans gathered around. He had a message for Hunt’s defense.
“If y’all had told me on Monday they wouldn’t score, I wouldn’t have had to go to the hospital,” Young joked, drawing laughter and cheers. “You could have saved an old man a lot of stress.”
Yep, Scott Young is back. Or was he?
“He didn’t go anywhere in the first place,” Morgan smiled. “He’s going to be here for a long time to come.”
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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com.